View clinical trials related to Cannabis Use.
Filter by:The overall objective of this proposed project is to prospectively evaluate the epigenetic and developmental effects of paternal cannabis and other drug use in offspring.
Cannabis use disorders are common among young adults in psychiatric treatment. Unfortunately, cannabis use can result in deleterious consequences for those in treatment, including developing more severe psychopathology and poorer treatment outcomes. Brief, electronic interventions for cannabis use have been developed for young adults. An example of a frequently used brief electronic intervention for cannabis users is e-Toke. e-Toke can be completed on a computer, tablet or phone, and has been shown to improve motivation to engage in substance use treatment among college students. However, e-Toke is less useful in decreasing the actual frequency of cannabis use. Additionally, e-toke is not tailored to young adults in psychiatric treatment. In this study, the investigators will develop and test a text messaging intervention that can be easily added to the popular computerized intervention e-Toke. The research staff hope the intervention will improve motivation to decrease cannabis use, and decrease the frequency of cannabis use, among young adults in psychiatric outpatient treatment. The text messages will be developed by, and tailored to, young adults in psychiatric treatment and texts will address motivations and barriers to reducing cannabis use in the context of psychiatric disorders. If the text message intervention is found to be an effective addition to e-Toke, this approach can be tested in a larger study, and then disseminated to other young adults in psychiatric treatment.
Biomarkers of recent drug use and intoxication have societal relevance, in that they are used by law enforcement and other agencies to detect drug impairment. For instance, a breathalyzer can quickly and accurately detect blood alcohol content (BAC) to indicate if a person is under the influence of alcohol; however, there is currently no similar way to quickly detect if a person is under the influence of cannabis. In light of increasing cannabis use, it is important to define a quantitative, objective method of determining recent use and intoxication. The link between changes in eye characteristics (e.g. movement, pupil dilation) and cannabis use is documented (Peragallo et al. 2013), but insufficiently characterized. Certain outcomes of eye behavior are known to be affected by recent cannabis use (e.g. the eyes' ability to converge on a target; Stapleton et al 1986), while findings are mixed regarding other outcomes (e.g. the eyes' ability to smoothly follow a target; Fant et al. 1998). Thus, the goal of this study is to identify a characteristic pattern of eye behavior, defined by performance on a battery of four eye tasks, as a function of recent cannabis use (7% vs. 0% THC). Using 30 healthy cannabis users (15 men, 15 women), this study will be one of the first to assess changes in eye behavior as a function of recent cannabis use within a quantified virtual reality (VR) environment. This study will examine the effect of smoked cannabis (7% vs. 0% THC) on individual eye movements, with the goal of defining the utility of the eyes as potential objective indicators of cannabis use and intoxication. Four eye tests (nystagmus, smooth pursuit, convergence, and pupillary light response; outlined below), which previous literature has defined as effective in detecting recent drug use (including opioids and alcohol; Murillo et al. 2004), have been compiled into a 5-minute task battery using a VR headset environment equipped with high frequency infrared eye trackers (the HTC Vive with Pupil Labs Tracking). This 5-minute VR battery of four eye tests will be administered prior to cannabis consumption as a baseline, and then at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105, 120, and 165 min after cannabis, with the goal of comparing baseline values to the ten post-cannabis timepoints to detect changes in eye behavior as a function of cannabis intoxication. The study will also utilize a battery of subjective-effects and mood visual analogue scales (0-100 mm; e.g. 'Good Drug Effect') prior to the eye test battery at each timepoint, allowing us to correlate each outcome of the eye tasks to subjectively reported cannabis impairment and mood. In addition to measuring eye behavior as a function of cannabis use, the training session of this study will be used to also collect exploratory data on the relationship between pupil dilation and experimental pain. Using Quantitative Sensory Testing (Medoc TSA-II NeuroSensory Analyzer), thermal pain threshold and tolerance will be induced using a cold stimulus (4.0°C; induced with a 30 x 30 mm Peltier thermode, which is 1.5" square metal applicator that is connected to the TSA-II NeuroSensory Analyzer device and software, and produces an ongoing cold sensation applied to the lower palm of the participant's non-dominant hand). Participants will indicate first feelings of pain (pain threshold), and when the pain becomes too much to bear (pain tolerance) by pressing a button on a controller connected to the TSA-II. Throughout exposure to the cold stimulus, changes in pupil size to the patient's subjectively reported pain latencies will be recorded.